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Separation of church & state served up as League lunch topic
"Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's, and unto God the things that are God's."
That passage goes back to Biblical days and is often dropped in discussions about Christianity and separation of church and state.
Paul W. Sharkey talked about that "separation" on Tuesday at the League of Women Voters of Oak Ridge's "Lunch with the League," which is held twice-monthly in the Unitarian Universalist Church.
Coincidentally — or providentially — that Oak Ridge discussion was held just hours before Anderson County Commission voted 12-4 on Tuesday evening to place the phrase "In God We Trust" on the Anderson County Courthouse.
The County Commission's vote has drawn praise as well as criticism throughout the county and within the Oak Ridge community. The Commission has 16 members and six of those are from Oak Ridge; collectively, Oak Ridge commissioners voted 4-2 against the "In God We Trust" issue with Steve Mead and John Shuey voting in favor of the measure and Robin Biloski, Jerry Creasey, Myron Iwanski and Harry "Whitey" Hitchcock voting against it.
Sharkey's "Lunch with the League" presentation — titled "Separation of Church and State: Protecting Your Religious Freedom" — addressed the relationship between church and state, the history of religious freedom, and how many refer to America as a "Christian nation" even though the U.S. Constitution doesn't "mention the word God and mentions the word religion only twice."
A retired professor of philosophy and religion, Sharkey asked his audience a couple of questions: "What does religious freedom mean to you? What is the difference between freedom of religion and freedom from religion?"
He said the secular form of government created by America's founding fathers was "not unreligious but to protect religion" and was the reason the colonists left England.
In historical terms, Sharkey talked about differences in churches and philosophy, stating that "religion is not simple" and referenced the irony of his Oak Ridge presentation being held at the Unitarian Church.
Sharkey discussed the history of "the social contract" and the three branches of government. He also talked about the "unalienable rights" of life, liberty and property.
Thomas Jefferson, when drafting the Declaration of Independence, used a similar text describing unalienable rights, as life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Sharkey said many historians believe Jefferson took the words from John Locke, who wrote about those rights in a civil government essay and a letter about religious toleration.
"Of our founding fathers, 28 were with the Church of England and three were Roman Catholic," Sharkey said. He said other "religions" included additional Protestants, Lutherans and Quakers, adding that "none were Baptists."
Sharkey discussed the Constitution, the First Amendment and Article VI of the Constitution and how some states have violated the law. According to Sharkey, Tennessee is one of the states in violation because it has a "religious test law" stating a person must believe in God to hold public office.
"Do we really want people in power having this?" asked Sharkey, stating that some politicians have asked that a "Christian amendment" be added to the Constitution which would make the government based on "divine rights."
He discussed the Ten Commandments being used or displayed in government buildings, courtrooms and offices. And he pointed out many states have refused to remove the Commandments, though the federal court sees that as a violation.
He argued that if the states hold steadfast with the Commandments, should the penalties of the Biblical times also be used? "Frankly," he said, "it scares the Hell out of me."
Lastly, Sharkey referenced the "In God We Trust" motto on U.S. currency, stating that "In God We Trust" and the words "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance were added years after the Constitution.
"It's ironic the words 'under God' were placed between one nation and indivisible, which separates them," he opined.
Sharkey said his wife was harassed when she corrected a school official about the Pledge and later received threatening phone calls. Even later, he said some of his wife's students protested her remarks — causing her to eventually leave her teaching position.
"Religious persecution should not be happening in the United States of America," Sharkey told the League of Women Voters of Oak Ridge and their guests.
The professor also answered several localized questions, including one about the Anderson County Commission's consideration of putting the words "In God We Trust" on the County Courthouse, and whether or not prayer before public meetings can be held legally.
"People are afraid (to go against religion)," the speaker said. He said people get pressure from groups, but remarked that being for separation of church and state doesn't make someone anti-religion.
As for the difference between freedom "of" religion and freedom "from" religion, Sharkey stated: "Your freedom of religion is my freedom from religion.
"In other words, you can't force yours on me."
Beverly Majors can be contacted at (865) 220-5514.


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Brace yourself for some Twitter wisdom in the battle for the White House, courtesy of actress Lindsay Lohan.
Post by: Anderson Cooper
Filed under: The RidicuList
@AndersonCooper, why do you continue to bully and deride @LindsayLohan? Yes, we are all well aware of the public decisions Ms Lohan has made the last several years – though you have mutliple times used your public influence to berate and minimize her from your high place. I thought you were committed to being a voice for those are mistreated.
Lindsay Lohan tweets are news? Anderson you go on air and mock some trouble girl. This is not the Anderson that covered the war and Katrina. I cannot believe how much time you spent on this. Are you CNN or Hard Copy?
I thought that Anderson's summation of Lindsay Lohan's tweets boardered on the ridiculous commentary for the day. I've found it very curious that despite Lindsay's attempt to accept her medical and professional challenges that many of her own collegues want to disallow her to recover and reclaim her working career. Lindsay, believe it or not, does know what happened historically in the 20's, 50's etc because her understudy for roles portraying Elizabeth Taylor require her to know history. Anderson, let her redeem herself. I'd like to her more about her views of supporting a GOP candidate. This is a girl that has seen the wild side, what attracts her to a conservative candidate?
Anderson, I LOVE you, adore your show...but last night I feel you took a wrong turn.
Both my husband and I honestly thought that the woman who reads body language and went on about the "negative space" on one side of Obama's head and what that definitively meant was more inappropriate on CNN than Lohan's tweet, only reflecting her response on the debates.
She was just sharing her opinion; is she not entitled to that? It's not as though she asked to be aired on CNN with her thoughts.
It's apparent that you have a heart of gold Anderson; I felt disappointed last night. Not in you, but in your choice to ridicule last night. Please reconsider.
With respectful thanks,
Terry Ann Seale
It was a little funny when Anderson Cooper said Lindsay Lohan had signed in on how she felt about politics but it became uncomfortable fast! Oops – an exclamation mark. I'm 59 but don't most young women get a little carried away with exclamation marks. When I googled Anderson Cooper & Lindsay Lohan to say how MEAN it was – just mean – I saw that he is almost obsessed with Lindsay Lohan. If he hates her so much, why does he keep up with what she's doing. When he said she was trying to contact other celebrities & named them, saying it was embarrassing – I was amazed. I always liked Anderson Cooper & he was verbally tearing apart a young woman, who has enough problems without him ripping her apart in front of the world. We've all heard about Lindsay & her life – what is she going to do back? Come on Anderson Cooper's show and debate him? Give it up & give a mixed up young woman a break. I completely changed my opinion of Anderson Cooper watching him spew his vile with a sneering grin. Yuck!
It's nice to know that somebody is reading Lindsay Lohan's tweets.
Anderson Cooper goes beyond the headlines to tell stories from many points of view, so you can make up your own mind about the news. Tune in weeknights at 8 and 10 ET on CNN.
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subset: commoncrawl


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Word Cookies Cannoli Level 11 Answers and Solutions:
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Brian Kim Spotlight
Dangerously hard Trad by day, national comp crusher by night. Brian Kim shares his sleepless secrets of success.
There was a bigger surprise at September's Unified Bouldering Championships in Lincoln, New Hampshire, than victory by Ethan Pringle. A mere one fall behind Pringle and second on the podium, ahead of the favorite, Daniel Woods was Brian Kim, 24, a quiet architecture student from Edison, New Jersey. The place where the light bulb was invented.
Only two weeks later, the still relatively unknown Kim succeeded in the third ascent of Iron Monkey, trad 5.14a, in Eldorado Canyon, Colorado. He sent it the day after a cable on a fixed nut exploded, and, by freak happenstance, his rope also unclipped from a cam, nearly causing him to smack the deck. A fixed wired nut also snapped on Kim last year, on the Cybernetic Wall (5.13d), in the Shawangunks, New York.
I'm pretty good at breaking them, he jokes.
Kim was the first person in 20 years to lead that historic route. This past summer he also established Monumantle (5.13d), a yet unrepeated face and arete climb on spaced-out pro up a steep 20-degree wall in the Gunks.
The worlds of plastic bouldering comps versus hard trad climbing may seem disparate, but for Kim the two intersect.
Competitions keep me on edge, he says. I don't have a lot of time to really focus on getting out climbing and going on big trips and sending.
If travel seems limited, transportation fills his days. Several times a week Kim drives or takes trains over an hour to Manhattan to climb at Chelsea Piers or Brooklyn Boulders, and twice a week, sometimes more, he heads 90 minutes in the opposite direction, attending a part-time, six-year architecture program at Drexel University, Philadelphia.
Brian learned to climb at age 10 at his hometown gym, where he was nicknamed Gearboy by older friends for wearing his clanking gear rack and figure 8. He also grew up playing tennis and the trumpet, at one point being shuttled by his mother to play weekly in both the Long Island Symphony Music Association, in New York, and the New Jersey Youth Symphony: So that was a lot of driving. For her.
Among top competitors, only Pringle also appears to trad climb consistently. Kim considers the practice an asset: At least for me, there's no way I'm getting to the top of a hard trad route if I don't have total control of my mind. You have to stay extremely focused so that fear or doubt doesn't flood your mind. This is great practice for competition climbing. Hopefully more people will start.
Said by others to define cool-headedness and focus, Kim doesn't talk, yell or complain on routes; he just climbs. An outstanding all-arounder, he has also done three sport 5.14b's (Sick Dimension, Potrero Chico; Still Life, Summersville Lake; and China Beach, Rumney), and bouldered up to V12 in Font and in the Gunks.
What made you choose Iron Monkey?
In May there was a comp in Boulder, the Battle of the Bubble. I had an extra day. I saw that climb in a film, it looked really cool, so I figured I'd go find it. It was short so I thought it'd be a good one to try for a short trip. I maybe did like two moves and then had to leave. I didn't even think it was doable.
A few months later my friend moved to Boulder so I visited and somehow found myself back on it. I spent like two days on it and again had to go back home. I got motivated and came back a third time, between classes. I thought I was crazy, too, because it's such a short climb and I was traveling like crazy for it.
And why the Cybernetic Wall?
That wall sticks out like a sore thumb. I always go for something like that. I did it ground up [laughs] because it's pretty short. It is kind of cool when a climb has some baggage. A lot of the Gunks climbs have history.
How would you describe yourself?
Really quiet, pretty shy, except with the people I know. Hardworking. A calm person who gets things done. I'm never too frantic about things.
Do people ever try to get a reaction out of you?
[laughs] Everybody that climbs with me does. [They] ask a lot of questions, they'll do anything.
You commute a lot. How late do you study?
Usually until 5 in the morning.
I sleep in, though. I sleep a lot on trains. I rely a lot on alarm clocks.
You are such a smooth climber, everything looks easy.
I hear the smooth comment a lot. It surprises me because I swear Im always battling on these climbs.
Do you do any other sport?
When the weather is nice I'm playing tennis with my sisters [Diane, 29, a tax auditor, and Grace, 27, an optometrist]. They're really good. I need some extra cardio but I hate running.
Who are your main climbing partners?
It's kind of random. Vadim [Vinokur], he's always around. Kevin Wright. Cody Sims.
Not anymore. Well, maybe there is one.
When I first started climbing, I saw this film with Alex Lowe in it. He was a big figure for me. He looked so cool. He just had the all-around good climber image, and I wanted to be like that.
Is this more than you usually talk?
Omigosh, this is more than I talk in a day. Mostly I'm just on my computer or setting routes. I'm actually in Chelsea Piers right now doing some routesetting. Routesetting transfers pretty well from architecture. Architecture is all about designing how people move through spaces. Setting routes is just doing that vertically.


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Today's News: Our Take - Malcolm in the Middle's Frankie Muniz: I Suffered a "Mini Stroke"
Frankie Muniz was hospitalized last Friday after suffering what the Malcolm in the Middle star called a "Mini Stroke" on his Twitter.
"I was in the hospital last Friday. I suffered a 'Mini Stroke', which was not fun at all. Have to start taking care of my body! Getting old!" Muniz, who turns 27 on Wednesday, tweeted Tuesday morning.
It's a Malcolm in the Middle reunion!
The actor, who recently appeared as himself on ABC's Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23, did not provide further details, but TMZ.com reports that Muniz was taken to an Arizona emergency room after his friends noticed he was having a hard time understand words and speaking.
View original Malcolm in the Middle's Frankie Muniz: I Suffered a "Mini Stroke" at TVGuide.com
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Superstar couple Beyonce and Jay-Z are drawing scrutiny for vacationing in Cuba to celebrate their fifth wedding anniversary. U.S. law prohibits citizens from traveling there for tourism.
Two conservative Cuban-American members of Congress are asking U.S. Treasury officials to look into whether the couple had the proper paperwork.
"I'm not saying that they should be politicians, but be sensitive to the cruelty of this regime, what they've done to the people of Cuba. It's just a shame to make it look like an exotic vacation, shameful," said Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen.
Cuban-American Florida Senator Marco Rubio also weighed in on Twitter. In a lengthier statement, he criticized the Obama administration's updated policy that allows for visiting Cuba as part of the "people to people" program.
U.S. Treasury Department guidelines stipulate "Each traveler must have a full-time schedule of educational exchange activities that will result in meaningful interaction between the travelers and individuals in Cuba."
So did Beyonce and Jay-Z's trip actually violate U.S. travel restrictions? CNN's Jim Acosta reports.
Post by: Jim Acosta
Filed under: Beyonce • Cuba • Jay-Z
The hypocrisy never seizes to amaze me. We can travel to China, we can travel to Vietnam and other parts of the world where the US has had direct conflict and do business with those governments but we can't travel to Cuba. Communism is not a threat anymore. A new generation of Cuban Americans do not see things the way their parents do. This blockade is a joke and other countries are reaping the benefits. Want to get rid of Communism in Cuba. Promote Business, Cultural Exchanges, Sports, Research ... etc. I guarantee you will get more results than the failed economic blockade.
Its soo stupid you can't travel anywhere you want.. If you want to travel to Cuba; go ahead! If Cuba is so bad, why are you allowed to travel to Russia when the halocust happen there?
The answer to the question is probably... yes. Do most of the commenters feel like this restriction is ridiculous? Yes. Are any of them talking about working to change the restrictions? No.
Did Beyonce and Jay-Z's trip actually violate U.S. travel restrictions? Of course not......they're celebrities and can do anything they want, just like the politicians can.
Why does the U.S. law prohibits citizens from traveling to Cuba for tourism? Lots of Americans have been there and it isn't all on offical business. I'm ready to venture out and see what Cuba has to offer. Beautiful place with a lot of culture waiting to be explored!
Yeah, but at what cost? I don't think it is worth possibly being imprisoned or put in a work camp.
Obama the rock star is more worried about doing favors for celebrities than fixng my country. Hip hop parties at the white house and idiots like Chris Rock are invited to the white house often.' Smh.
This is crazy. Our government is getting too involved in what people do in this country. If they choose to move to Cuba and take their taxes there then what? The USA need to be focusing on more important issues and not people going on vacation.
How hypocritical of Rubio and company. This is a man who says he supports limited government and personal freedoms and then throws a fit over a celebrity vacation. Just more proof that the GOP doesn't care about the economy.
... So? They're hardly the first Americans to visit Cuba. Just go to a Caribbean island and hop over to Cuba; they won't even stamp the passport if they see it's American. The rest of the world can visit Cuba and it's a great vacation spot (a favorite for Canadians). America has other things to focus on than where celebrities choose to vacation.
My wife and I will be in Cuba in May in a government sanctioned "person-to-person" tour through the Grand Circle Foundation. We feel that a stronger relationship between our countries, and an end to the embargo, is long overdue.
They went to Cuba? Oh! How distressing. Next to the billion people starving and dying on the planet this is a serious concern and meanwhile Cuba is placing more medical personnel in the Americas to alleviate that problem then even the US. By the way, doesn't the US government allow travel to Saudi Arabia (where women can be executed for driving a car); Myanmar and Syria where military executions of freedom advocates are the "soup du jour" and finally into North Korea (and we know what they're like).
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Anderson Cooper goes beyond the headlines to tell stories from many points of view, so you can make up your own mind about the news. Tune in weeknights at 8 and 10 ET on CNN.
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Want to know more? Go behind the scenes with AC361°


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VIN6911OM- 69 Chevy Corvette, Intermediate Brake Line; SteelOur Intermediate Brake Lines are the lines running from the front of the car to the back feeding your rear brakes. These lines will run along your chassis all the way back to the rear brake drop hose. All lines come Pre-Bent and flared with the correct threaded fittings which reduces your install time tremendously. Our mild steel lines are Galphan coated for added protection. Our stainless-steel lines are T304 but are of a special softer blend to help with any possible leaks
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Two-way race for town supervisor in South Bristol
South Bristol sees a two-way race for town supervisor. Supervisor Dan Marshall is not seeking reelection. The town in 2013 pays $12,323.64 for the position, which is a two-year term. In addition to what their town pays, supervisors make an additional $13,176 in 2013 from Ontario County for serving on the county Board of Supervisors.
Candidates Deborah Merklinger and Barbara Welch answered questions.
What do you think is the single biggest issue facing your town in upcoming years?
I believe fracking is a most serious issue not only for the town but the whole state of New York.
Why are you running for Town Supervisor?
I am running for town supervisor to bring a different voice to the town board — your voice. I plan on working on a full -time basis for all citizens to see that our budget doesn't increase any more than absolutely necessary to provide needed services.
Why are you the best choice to serve?
I have been a career-long public servant, beginning in banking as a bookkeeper and through determination and perseverance worked my way up to vice president of operations. I also have experience helping those with terminal illness and mentoring a young girl through a Big Sister program. I believe my skills with people and finances, including my volunteer work and career at the Ontario County Health Facility, make me a good choice for town supervisor.
I really want to work for and with the residents of South Bristol — I plan on reviewing the comprehensive plan that South Bristol has in place. I will be looking to the residents for concerns of the town and county — I want to encourage participation from all to make our town run smoothly. I will always have an open door to one and all.
What do you think is the single biggest issue facing your town in upcoming years?
I believe the biggest issue facing South Bristol is retaining the rural character and water quality that makes this such a wonderful place to live. Going forward, I believe our community needs to consider the effect our everyday decisions, policies, practices, and operations impact our vision for our town. It will take the joint effort and commitment of our town government and citizens to formulate a plan to effectively address future issues we may face while providing a lasting benefit to the current and future residents of our town.
Why are you running for Town Supervisor?
I am running for town supervisor to provide leadership, initiative, and representation so "South Bristol may be enjoyed to the fullest by this and succeeding generations of town residents" (1998 and 2008 Comprehensive Plans). The town's Comprehensive Plan embodies the shared vision of our residents and property owners. I was given the 1998 edition of the Plan on my first visit to the Town Hall. I read and studied this document with a sense of awe at the richness of the local history, beauty, and vision it captured. That exposure would eventually catapult me into active public service. Our family had the responsibility of entering all the responses from over 400 of our neighbors to the survey used to develop the 2008 Comprehensive Plan. The experience of personally reading each and every hand-written comment left an indelible impression of the blessing we share in calling South Bristol home, and the overwhelming sense that the community wrote as if with one pen their overarching desire to protect the ground and surface water and preserve the rural character of our town.
Why are you the best choice to serve?
My governmental and corporate experience provides the skills needed to successfully navigate the increasing complexity of local government operations. The legislative experience on the Town Board and Zoning Board, historical knowledge from regularly attending Town Board meetings since 1999, and managerial experience acquired through 20 years in the insurance industry provides the experience needed to serve our community. The perspective gained through meeting residents one on one over the past two years and active involvement in community service provides the understanding needed to represent our community.


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To follow up on Ashley's post earlier this week on advice from a hiring manager, I thought I'd share my own perspective. I recently served on a search committee for a tenure-track academic librarian position and reviewed applications for a paid (!) summer archival internship. Nothing I'm going to share in this post is groundbreaking, but I just want to reiterate some key points to keep in mind when sending in applications for jobs and internships.
1. I really appreciate when your file names include your full name and what type of document (resume, cover letter) it is. While a file that's named after the place you're applying to is helpful for your own reference, it's not helpful for mine.
2. This is definitely a personal preference, but I really love when application materials are sent as .pdf files. Never trust Microsoft Word to keep your formatting true. You also take the risk of leaving track changes on (oh, it's happened — and yes, it looks bad).
3. One way I can tell if you're detail-oriented is if you actually send in everything that's asked for. If the job/internship posting asks for your availability, be sure to include it.
1. Tailor your cover letter. Show that you looked at the organization's website and know something about it, and specify why you want to work there. You will especially stand out if you discuss why you are interested in performing the type of work explicitly listed in the job description. If you talk about how you'd love to learn about digitization when it's not described in the position description at all, it's a clear giveaway that you didn't read it thoroughly — or that you're just recycling an old cover letter without much editing. Oftentimes, I'll see a resume that looks good but change my mind after reading the cover letter.
2. Think of your cover letter as exclusive from the resume. Please don't just repeat what's on your resume, but really explain why your past experience is relevant to the position.
3. Write clearly in your cover letter. If I need to read a sentence multiple times to understand it, you'll stand out for the wrong reasons. One sentence does not need to take up five lines.
Of course, most of these are just my personal preferences. Be sure to check out the blog Hiring Librarians, which provides many different perspectives from hiring managers on what they look for in a candidate, and Open Cover Letters, which publishes cover letters from librarians and archivists who got hired.
Categories: Internships & Volunteering, Job Searching


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Installing and Using Child Safety Seats and Booster Seats
Proper restraints for children riding in motor vehicles depend on the child's age and size. Restraints to keep a child safe in the car include:
Infant safety seats
Child safety seats
Child booster seats
Properly used safety belts
The key to keeping your child safe is to use an age-appropriate child restraint that is properly installed and properly used.
Infant and child safety seats come in many shapes and sizes. Some are not compatible with certain vehicles. The best child safety seat for a family is the one that is easy to use for the parents or caregivers, fits in the vehicle's seats, is compatible with the vehicle's seat belts, and is the proper size for the child. The American Academy of Pediatrics has a series of specific recommendations for the use of child safety seats:
Children should face the rear of the vehicle until they are at least 2 years of age or preferably until they reach the maximum height or weight allowed by the seat. This is to reduce the risk of cervical spine injury in the event of a crash. Infants who outgrow their car safety seat recommended by the manufacturer can use convertible seats, but must still be rear-facing.
A rear-facing car safety seat must not be placed in the front passenger seat of any vehicle equipped with a passenger-side front air bag. This practice prevents the risk of death or serious injury from impact of the air bag against the safety seat.
Premature and small infants should not be placed in car safety seats with shields, abdominal pads, or arm rests that could directly contact an infant's face and neck during an impact.
In rear-facing car safety seats for infants, shoulder straps must be in the lowest slots until the infant's shoulders are above the slots. The harness must be snug and the car safety seat's retainer clip should be positioned at the midpoint of the infant's chest, not on the abdomen or in the neck area.
The car safety seat should be reclined halfway back, at a 45-degree tilt. A higher angle should be used when the child is over 6 months. Until engineering modifications can be put into place to prevent this problem, a firm roll of cloth or newspaper can be wedged under the car safety seat below the infant's feet to achieve this angle.
A convertible safety seat should be used as long as the child fits well. (This includes ears below the top of the back of the seat and shoulders below the seat strap slots.) It is positioned reclined and rear-facing for a child until 2 years of age and semi-upright and forward-facing for a child older than 2 years of age who weighs 20 to 40 pounds,
A booster seat should be used when the child has outgrown a convertible safety seat, but is too small to fit properly in a vehicle safety belt.
A belt-positioning booster seat that uses a combination lap/shoulder belt, if that type of belt is recommended. A booster seat with a small shield, which can be used when only a lap belt is available, is not recommended by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).
The infant safety seat
Infant safety seats are often small and portable seats used for babies up to age 1 and 35 pounds. Infant seats are rear-facing and may come with a three-point or a five-point harness. Some infant seats come with detachable bases that can be left belted into the vehicle so that the parent does not have to install the seat every time. (Some bases also are adjustable to correctly recline the infant.)
The child safety seat
Child safety seats are either convertible seats or forward-facing seats:
Convertible seats can be used for infants up to age 2 in the rear-facing position, and then turned around into the forward-facing position for toddlers. The disadvantage of a convertible seat is that it does not fit a newborn as well as an infant safety seat. When changing from a rear-facing position to a forward-facing position, parents or caregivers should check the seat's manual on how to adjust the shoulder straps appropriately and how to position the seat belt properly.
Forward-facing child safety seats are for children over 2 years of age. Some seats may convert to booster seats for children over 40 pounds.
The booster seat
Booster seats help raise your child so that the vehicle's seat belts fit properly. Booster seats are necessary when a child outgrows his or her child safety seat top weight or height, usually after 40 pounds or age 4. Children do not fit in adult shoulder/lap belts (without a booster seat) until they are 58 inches tall (with a sitting height of 29 inches) and weigh 80 pounds, according to the CDC.
Booster seats should always be placed in the back seat of the vehicle. There are two types of booster seats:
High back booster. A booster seat that helps protect the head and neck in back seats that do not have head restraints. The vehicle's lap and shoulder belts are used to secure the child.
Backless booster. A booster seat that raises the child up so that the vehicle's lap and shoulder belts properly restrain the child.
Checking your car seat
As many as 73% of child safety seats are found to be improperly installed and/or used, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Some of the most common mistakes in installing or using child safety seats include the following:
Safety belt not holding the seat in tightly or not in locked mode
Harness straps not snug or positioned correctly
Harness retainer clip not at armpit level
Locking clip not used correctly
Car seat recalled and not repaired (includes booster seats)
Infants placed rear-facing in front of an active air bag
Children turned forward-facing before reaching 2 years of age
Parents and caregivers should carefully read their vehicle owner's manual and the instructions that come with the child safety seat to make sure of proper installation and use of the seat. The NHTSA recommends doing the following quick safety seat assessment:
Is your child riding in the back seat? (The back seat is the safest place in a crash.)
Is your child facing the correct way? (Infants up to age 2 should face the rear.)
Is the child safety seat held tightly in place by the seat belt?
Does the harness buckle snugly around your child?
If your child is between 40 and 80 pounds, is he or she in a booster seat for better seat belt fit?
Does your older child fit properly in the vehicle's seat belts? (The shoulder belt should rest over the shoulder and across the chest, and the lap belt should fit low and tight over the upper thighs. The child should be tall enough to sit with knees bent at the edge of the seat--at least 58 inches tall and 80 pounds.)
Replacing child safety seats and seat belts after a crash
Once a vehicle has been in a severe crash, child safety seats and seat belts should be replaced because they may have become stretched or damaged. All child safety seats are replaced by insurance companies. Always check with your child safety seat manufacturer concerning questions about the safety of your child's seat.
When car seats are recalled
Sometimes child safety seats are recalled for safety reasons. It is important to register your car seat to make sure that you are notified if the specific product is recalled. To check if your child safety seat has been recalled, call the seat's manufacturer or the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Vehicle Safety Hotline at 888-327-4236. If the seat has been recalled, you will be instructed on how to repair it, or how to obtain parts to repair it.


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Yes, if granted an expungement for a DUI in Michigan, it will clear the conviction from your criminal record.
Yes, if granted an expungement for a DUI in Michigan, it will clear the conviction from your criminal record.
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Representing clients in Ann Arbor, Canton, Brighton, Howell, Saline, Adrian, Taylor, Plymouth, Northville, Westland, Ypsilanti, Pittsfield Towsnhip, Warren, Sterling Heights, Farmington, Pontiac, Romulus, Lansing, Novi, South Lyon, Southfield, Birmingham, Bloomfield Hills, Royal Oak, Troy, Rochester, Jackson, East Lansing, Garden City, Livonia, Dearborn, Detroit, St Clair Shores, Hazel Park, Ferndale, Madison Heights, Waterford, Milford, Shelby Township Clarkston, Oak Park, Berkley, Fraser, Sterling Heights, Clinton Township and others throughout Washtenaw, Wayne, Monroe, Jackson, Macomb, Ingham, Lenawee, Livingston, Oakland County & Northern Michigan
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March 16th, 2011
What should I expect after COPD diagnosis?
Every weekday, a CNNHealth expert doctor answers a viewer question. On Wednesdays, it's Dr. Otis Brawley, chief medical officer at the American Cancer Society.
Question asked by Pamela of Nashville, Tennessee:
I just learned that I have chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and emphysema. Can you tell me about it and what the prognosis is? I also have coronary artery disease and have had stents placed.
Expert answer:
Dear Pamela,
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD, is a disease that truly negatively affects quality of life. Patients with COPD are prone to asthma-like wheezing, breathlessness, chest tightness and coughing that can occur in episodes caused by chromic inflammation. They're also prone to viral and bacterial infections.
It is the fourth most common cause of death in the United States, killing an estimated 120,000 people each year.
While COPD is most noted for episodes of shortness of breath and wheezing, the disease is typically slowly progressive and persistent. Medical treatment can be successful in relieving symptoms and reducing the severity of exacerbations.
Treatment is with inhaled bronchodilators, steroids to reduce inflammation and other oral medications.
Breathing problems? Check them with this test
Early diagnosis and good treatment are important as they can reduce the number and severity of exacerbations and prolong survival. Some people can live with this condition for several decades.
More than 80% of patients with COPD have a history of cigarette smoking. A few patients have it because of chemical inhalation exposure. Most are overweight or obese. Weight loss can also occur in severe COPD and is a sign of severe disease with a poor prognosis.
At one time, we distinguished different types of COPD, emphysema and chronic bronchitis. All patients with COPD have an element of each, although one component will usually predominate in the individual patient.
Chronic bronchitis is defined by a chronic cough that produces sputum. Emphysema is defined by enlargement and destruction of the airspaces in the lung.
When the physician examines a patient with very severe COPD one finds decreased breath sounds, wheezes, crackles at the lungs, and distant heart sounds. The patient's diaphragm in limited in movement, meaning the patient cannot take in deep breaths. In extremely severe disease, the chest size is increased.
Patients lean forward to use all the muscles of the chest and neck to bring air in. COPD can progress to cause heart failure, as the right side of the heart cannot pump blood into the damaged lungs.
Could your job be hurting your lungs?
Physicians use pulmonary function tests to assess the severity of COPD. These are tests to measure how fast it take a patient to fully exhale air, how much air he can exhale in one second, how much air he can inhale. X-ray and especially CT scans can also be used to assess damage to the lungs.
The arterial blood gases are a series of blood tests to determine how much oxygen and carbon dioxide is in the blood. As the disease worsens oxygenation goes down and carbon dioxide levels rise. Blood gas abnormalities acutely worsen during COPD exacerbations and often worsen during exercise and sleep.
Because most patients have a significant smoking history, most patients have many of the other illnesses associated with smoking, especially cardiovascular disease. These patients also have high risk for smoking related malignancies.
Unfortunately, poor lung function often interferes with or prevents treatment of the other diseases.
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Get a behind-the-scenes look at the latest stories from CNN Chief Medical Correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, Senior Medical Correspondent Elizabeth Cohen and the CNN Medical Unit producers. They'll share news and views on health and medical trends - info that will help you take better care of yourself and the people you love.


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Consumer Goods and Retail Initial Production Check - IPC
At SGS, we understand the importance of identifying potential problems with your products as early as possible in the production process, so that solutions can be found and the need for costly changes later in the production process can be eliminated.
Our initial production check (IPC) is an examination of components, materials and product quality at the start of production to foresee risks and prevent resources being wasted.
Conducted when 10% of goods have been produced, our initial product inspection is applicable to all goods, checking them with regulations, standards and contractual agreements. It is a visual evaluation that detects early defects and is performed on-site.
Our consultants can conduct an IPC as a one-off product visual verification or as part of a broader quality assurance and quality improvement program conducted by SGS. Our quality assurance program ensures that quality standards are maintained throughout the production process, from concept design to shipping of goods, and our quality improvement program provides solutions to any problems that arise.
Our product quality monitoring services are second to none, being underpinned by the skills and knowledge of world-class experts and vast experience of production checks for a wide range of businesses across the globe. In helping you keep one eye on quality from the start of the production process, we not only reduce the possibility of your product being stalled by regulatory non-compliance but also reduce costs of product development and protect your brand's reputation from the risk of damage due to product recall.


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NauticalMart Richards Trunk Low Chest
After seemingly circling the globe, a canvas-clad steamer trunk landed at a famed European antiques market. It was battered and worn, but its careful construction and handsome detailing marked it as bespoke luggage, crafted in early 20th-century England for a traveler of discerning taste (a traveler whose name according to the brass plate mounted above the latch was Tom Richards). Plucked from potential obscurity, the trunk made its way to the workshop of Timothy Oulton, where it was painstakingly dismantled every pin removed and measured, every hinge and brace scrutinized. And from that well-made, well-traveled trunk, a collection was born. Our polished aluminum version was inspired by the gleaming nose cones and fuselages of mid-20th-century aircraft, clad in a patchwork of polished aluminum panels accented with exposed steel screws.


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Sexism: The Worst Part Is Not Knowing
Posted by The Situationist Staff on September 12, 2008
From New Scientist ("Chauvinists Less Unnerving than Ambiguous Men").
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Chavinistic men can be petty and infuriating, but that might be as far as it goes. Women are more unnerved by not knowing a man's views than by overt sexism – so much so that they perform worse in exams.
Rodolfo Mendoza-Denton at the University of California, Berkeley, asked 170 female undergraduates to take a written test. Before the test they were randomly assigned to one of three empty offices, which they were told belonged to their male examiner. The fictional offices were furnished in one of three ways to allow the students to infer the examiner's view of women. They either had "progressive" decor such as a breast-cancer awareness banner, overtly sexist posters of women, or neutral objects such as a stack of papers.
Students who were sensitive to sexism, as measured by a separate questionnaire, scored worse if they had been in the supposedly neutral office. They were not fazed, though, by the chauvinist office, scoring better than less-sensitive peers (Journal of Experimental Social Psychology).
"Ironically, if you 'know thy enemy', you've got a better chance of dealing with it than if you are constantly wondering if you will be judged unfairly," says Mendoza-Denton.
Indeed, previous studies suggest that black people prefer dealing with overtly racist whites than with those who behave ambiguously. Because overt racism and sexism has become socially unacceptable, prejudice has become more subtle, he concedes.
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To review some related Situationist posts, see "Stereotype Threat and Performance," "The Gendered Situation of Science and Math," "Gender-Imbalanced Situation of Math, Science, and Engineering," "Sex Differences in Math and Science," "You Shouldn't Stereotype Stereotypes," "Women's Situation in Economics," and "Your Group is Bad at Math."
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This entry was posted on September 12, 2008 at 12:50 am and is filed under Abstracts, Implicit Associations, Social Psychology. Tagged: ambiguous sexism, overt sexism, Sexism. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.


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Today's Daily 4 results are in. Here are the winning numbers for Saturday March 18, 2023
Your latest Daily 4 results are featured further below. Born2Invest, a leading finance site, publishes live lottery data, from lottery operators around the world. We deliver your Daily 4 results first.
Your Daily 4 results for Saturday March 18, 2023 are as follows:
Are you holding the winning lottery numbers in your hand? Thumbs all the way up to you if that is the case.
Over the last few years, we have seen a wealth of new money games seemingly popping out of nowhere. Games like Wolf Gold, a new online slot game provided by Pragmatic Play that runs on 5 reels and has 25 paylines and Wild Energy, a game charged with high voltage power towers as a theme featuring diamonds, bars, bells, energy… all the way to Power of Gods Egypt, an online slot game provided by Wazdan.
For years now everyone has been hunting for the strategy that will ensure they get the winning lottery ticket. The internet is teeming with websites promising strategies that will help you hit the jackpot. Sadly these are mostly wasted words and the majority of strategies do nothing to help your chances. After-all, predicting the winning numbers is nigh impossible.
With that in mind there are some strategies that can help you maximize your opportunities:
- Use the second chance: There's nothing like a second chance. Many lottery tickets have a form on the back that you can fill out. If you then mail your ticket to the provider you get a second chance to win-big with just one ticket!
- Use rare numbers: Most players use the same set of numbers. If someone else has selected the same numbers as you then you will have to split the jackpot with them. Choosing uncommon numbers won't increase your chances of winning but it will reduce the risk that you will have to split the pot.
- Make a lottery pool: Lottery Pools allow multiple players to pool their resources and increase their chances of winning. Members agree to split the jackpot if one of them wins, increasing the chances of a big win at the cost of a huge jackpot. Whether this tradeoff is worth it entirely depends upon you.
- Play the odds: Different games have different odds. By carefully reading the rules and regulations you can make sure you don't play a losing card. Keep in mind that government backed lotteries often have fixed odds, which could reduce your final pay-out if you have to split the jackpot. Scratch cards also offer a great way for players to take advantage of smaller payouts with significantly better odds.
Did you know that?
- Talk about odds: in 2010, the Israel lottery drew the same six numbers it did three weeks earlier.
The likelihood of this happening are roughly one in four trillion.
- "I wish I'd torn that ticket up." This quote is attributed to Andrew "Jack" Whittaker who won $315 million at the Powerball jackpot in 2012. First, Mr. Whittaker was robbed and sued, then both his daughter and granddaughter died.
- 70%: the percentage of lottery winners who either lose all of their winnings or spend them all within seven years.
- 44, 38, and 40 represent the most commonly drawn numbers in the lottery.
- $584,402,676: the amount you would need to spend on buying lottery tickets if you wanted to play every possible combination of a $2 ticket and be guaranteed to win.
- 1-in-292,201,338: the probability of winning if you purchased thousands of tickets as the probability does not increase with further draws.
- 44 states: the number of US states that participate in the lottery. Six states have opted out: Utah, Alabama, Alaska, Mississippi, Hawaii, and Nevada. Nevada does not participate because the state already benefits from gambling profits.
- $1.5 billion (January 2016): the largest jackpot in U.S. history The winning tickets were sold in California, Texas, and Florida.
A-list actors, comedians and other celebrities routinely poke fun at the lottery or make remarks that stress its importance in our culture. A couple of examples:
"A friend bought me a plane ticket to Hawaii, which is where I got discovered and became an actor, so I guess a friend bought me a winning lottery ticket." (Chris Pratt)
"Here's something to think about: How come you never see a headline like 'Psychic Wins Lottery'?" (Jay Leno)


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Kotaku is citing two unnamed sources that it says "have a perfect track record in getting these kinds of things right" to report that Microsoft's follow-up to the Xbox 360 will need a working Internet connection to start games and apps. And the site goes on to write that the system will only tolerate brief interruptions in that connection while the game or app is being used.
"Unless something has changed recently, Durango consumer units must have an active Internet connection to be used," one source told the site, referring to the internal code name for Microsoft's next system. "If there isn't a connection, no games or apps can be started. If the connection is interrupted, then after a period of time—currently three minutes, if I remember correctly—the game/app is suspended and the network troubleshooter started." Another source said this requirement was still in effect on development hardware as recently as two weeks ago.
Information suggesting that the next Microsoft console will need to be online is nothing new; numerous leaks and rumors have pointed in that direction throughout the last year or so. However, this is the first serious suggestion that such connectivity would need to be more or less continuous while a game is being played, rather than just checked once when a game or app is launched.
Requiring a persistent Internet connection, if true, would seemingly limit the audience for Microsoft's next system. Even today, only 68.2 percent of households in the United States have access to broadband Internet, according to the OECD. Surveys show that this includes 90 percent of homes with a computer, and that access tracks heavily with income (a 2010 study found that 73 percent of US Xbox 360 owners had broadband in the home). Broadband subscription rates are much lower in developing countries like Russia and Brazil, which just got Xbox Live service in 2010 (each is seen as an emerging market for game consoles). On the other hand, an online check could limit the impact of piracy and/or the resale of secondhand games, which Microsoft and many game publishers see as having a dramatic effect on their bottom line.
Of course, this is all still rumor for now, and Microsoft doesn't comment on rumors and speculation as a matter of course. Even if it's true at the moment, the company could reverse itself before officially announcing the system, which is widely expected to hit stores by the end of the year. Microsoft could even use a firmware update to remove any sort of Internet requirement after the system launches if there is enough public outcry (or market impact).
Sony has said that the PlayStation 4 will not require an Internet connection to validate or play games, though other statements by Sony execs have left just enough wiggle room for some to continue worrying.


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Editorial: Common sense to reduce violence
As we find ourselves distanced from the horror of the Virginia Tech massacre, we should not lose sight of the fact that several steps should have and could have been made that may have prevented the tragedy.
Gov. Deval Patrick has filed two pieces of legislation that can have a significant impact on future crimes committed by guns and could help in identifying at-risk juveniles and through intervention and information sharing steer them toward a more productive life.
One bill is less about guns and more about identifying those who are on the road to nowhere but bad. Patrick's measure would create community-based programs designed to prevent violence and delinquency and diverting at-risk youths into services that can keep them out of the criminal justice system.
Cho Seung-Hui, the Virginia Tech student who gunned down 32 classmates and teachers, had a history of aberrant behavior, including court-mandated psychiatric evaluations and commitments. But none of that was shared with other agencies despite his troublesome behaviors in school.
Patrick's bill would open up sharing of information between all youth-related agencies from schools to social services to medical to police and courts.
While some information sharing does take place, it is haphazard and spotty, at best, and this is a long-overdue attempt to make such interagency communication uniform and unimpeded.
The other bill is aimed at reducing gun violence through detention and gun sales limits. We are 100 percent behind Patrick's proposal allowing prosecutors and judges to seek tougher sentences for those convicted of using a gun in the commission of a crime as well as detaining gun crime defendants and presumptively denying them bail.
Too often gun charges are bargained down or rolled into a criminal sentence. Adding extra prison time for using a gun may not make them think twice but it will keep them of the street that much longer and, in turn, make the streets and neighborhoods safer while they are gone.
We also have to treat defendants who are charged with gun crimes as potentially dangerous. We already hold murderers without bail and the law allows dangerousness hearings for everything from drunken driving to rape.
When someone is charged with using a gun in a crime, we have to believe they are a public safety threat as well.
We are, though, ambivalent about the third leg of Patrick's gun violence reduction plan that limits purchase of guns to one per month per person.
On its face, this is a commonsense proposal for those who don't own guns or just carry one for protection. Why would someone need to buy more than 12 guns a year?
Lt. Gov. Timothy Murray, who testified at the bills' hearing last week, said this would also prevent so-called "straw buyers" from becoming middleman purchasers.
But for serious - and law-abiding - gun enthusiasts and collectors, this could be an unnecessary burden on their rights. We can presume if a criminal wants to but two, three or four guns a month, he'll find someone to sell it to him.
But if a licensed gun owner sees a couple collector guns available for purchase that may not be there in a month or whose price could rise if not bought immediately, he should not be prevented from making a legal purchase.
Some gun owners who testified said the bill is an "inconvenience" that once again doesn't address criminals. We think they are wrong and those who take this tact run the risk of alienating those who favor sensible but not complete restrictions.
We urge them to join with the governor's office and legislators to find the common ground an an issue that too long has divided us. Gun violence is real and real solutions are needed to end it. This is a firm step.


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Currey & Company is a wholesale manufacturer of distinctive home furnishings products. We are best known for our lighting products (chandeliers, wall sconces, table and floor lamps) as well as interior furniture, garden furniture and accessories.
Headquarters for Currey & Company are in Atlanta, Georgia. This is the shipping point for customer orders also.
The multi-cultural company work force in Atlanta creates, assembles, finishes, packs and ships product. A dedicated management team and an office force tend to details of accounting, order processing and customer service.
Currey & Company sales representatives cover the United States and Canada. The corporate office handles international sales. Showrooms open to the trade are located in High Point, NC; Atlanta, GA; and Dallas, TX.
All Currey & Company's lighting products are designed and engineered to meet the rigid safety standards established by UNDERWRITER'S LABORATORY and bear the UL/CUI label (E141302 or E163523).
This UL/CLUI safety certification is valid in the United States and Canada. Currey & Company lighting products can also be manufactured to meet lighting standards around the world, including the European Union, Middle East and Asia.
Currey & Company's "vision" is to create and fulfill the desire for distinctive home furnishings.
Currey & Company's "mission" is to serve our customers, owners and employees in an exemplary manner through a culture, which encourages all to flourish.
A Little Bit of History: Currey & Company, known today for its vibrant collection of lighting products, started its existence in 1988 as a purveyor of historic garden furnishings. When Robert B. Currey founded Garden Source Furnishings, the main focus of the company was the creation and marketing of classic garden furniture from the Winterthur Museum and the Smithsonian Institution.
These collections were joined by a very American collection of garden whimsies, birdhouses and rustic twig furniture. Some lighting products were among these first offerings and by the early 1990's the lighting category had become very important. Accordingly, the name of the company was changed to Currey & Company to embrace a new focus on products for the interior.
Chandeliers and wall sconces today form a significant part of the company's business and these goods are characterized by the attention and detailing that goes into their manufacturing and finishing. With a workforce in Atlanta and Currey International in the Philippines, Currey & Company brings to the marketplace merchandise that not only speaks of the touch of the human hand, but also utilizes a myriad of natural materials.
Hand forged iron products have long been the specialty of the company, but the range of materials has been extended to include a variety of materials such as hand-carved wood, porcelain and brass. "Currey International" has made it possible for the company to develop and produce a variety of unique hand made products and materials. One of these is concrete hand formed to create fashionable furnishings of "faux bois." Seashells and other natural materials also figure strongly in the Currey & Company product line.


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Congress has become gun-shy about putting together Internet-related legislation after the attempt to pass SOPA generated unprecedented public outrage, but Internet piracy is still on its radar.
Still, it turns out that digital copies of pirated movies and TV shows aren't just the subject of committee debates on Capitol Hill—they're also being downloaded onto Capitol Hill computers. A post today in US News & World Report's tech blog published new information from anti-piracy forensics company ScanEye, a company that offers BitTorrent monitoring services in the name of fighting piracy. The ScanEye report [PDF] shows apparently pirated movie files being downloaded via IP addresses associated with the US House of Representatives.
Congressional employees downloaded episodes of Glee, CSI, Dexter, and Home and Away in October and early November. There are more TV episodes downloaded than movies, but the report also shows downloads of films, such as Iron Sky, which was downloaded by a Congress-owned computer on Oct. 4; Life of Pi, downloaded on Oct. 27; and the Dark Knight Rises, downloaded on Oct. 25. Another download listed is Bad Santa 2, a movie which has not been released yet.
There's no way of knowing, of course, whether any downloads were done by actual lawmakers, or just by their aides and staff. It isn't the first time a report has been released accusing Congress' computers of aiding in illegal downloads though. During the height of the SOPA debate in late 2011, BitTorrent news site TorrentFreak catalogued a variety of content it alleged was downloaded by Congress. That report left off the accused IP addresses and also noted downloads of books and of copyrighted software like Windows 7.


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Today's News: Our Take - The Mentalist Finale: Who Is Red John?
By the end of The Mentalist's Season 5 finale, viewers will finally know Red John's real name.
On Sunday's episode (10/9c, CBS), Patrick Jane (Simon Baker) narrows down his list of suspects to seven people. And despite the twists and tricks of the past (remember Bradley Whitford as Red John?), creator and executive producer Bruno Heller insists that one of the names on Jane's list is indeed his serial-killing nemesis.
Spoilers! Get scoop on 39 must-watch finales
"The cards are up on the table and they're the real cards," Heller tells TVGuide.com. "There is no sort of double twist. There's no more messing around.We've been through all the twists and turns of plot, and we're now getting to the truth. Only the truth gets revealed from now on in."
So, how well do we know the seven possible suspects? "You will recognize some of the names," Heller says. "Some will be obscure, some will be very well-known. But they're all legitimate suspects, and next season we will have to work out which one is the real guy. But under a great deal of pressure, that will be revealed at the end of this episode."
Indeed, just as Jane thinks he's closing in, Red John strikes out against someone from Jane's past. And the move is baffling to Jane. "It's someone Red John couldn't possibly know is connected to Jane," Heller says. "So, just when Jane thinks he is finally one step ahead, Red John is still on top. He doesn't turn things around to make Jane realize what he's learned is wrong, but it appears almost magical."
25 Bubble Shows: Which will be canceled?
Speaking of magic, Emmanuelle Chriqui will reprise her role as Lorelei Martins, who was last seen dead at the hands of Red John. "It's not a flashback, a typo or a mystical thing," Heller says with a laugh. "You'll have to work out what other alternatives are left. It's a surprise, and it's a good one."
Also surprising: the shocking way in which the list of seven names is ultimately revealed. And while Red John won't be caught in the finale, Heller promises that the story is growing much closer to its conclusion.
Save these shows! Check out 12 bubble shows we hope will survive
"This is the final chase," Heller says. "We will know who Red John is and we will catch him next season. Everything that has happened over ther past five years will come to a head, and things will change drastically. This is the biggest finale in terms of game-changing and setting up for the last act of the Red John saga. This is as definitive and revolutionary as you can get."
The Mentalist's Season 5 finale airs Sunday at 10/9c on CBS.
(Full disclosure: TVGuide.com is owned by a joint venture between Lionsgate and CBS.)
View original The Mentalist Finale: Who Is Red John? at TVGuide.com
Other Links From TVGuide.com


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April 15th, 2010
How dangerous is MRSA?
As a feature of CNNhealth.com, our team of expert doctors will answer readers' questions. Here's a question for Dr. Gupta.
From Kathleen
"If a person was found to have MRSA cluster in the nose while in the hospital but not given anything for it, how dangerous is it to be around this person and for how long? I was wondering why they didn't give her the antibiotic for it – everything I read on line seems to lean towards MRSA as a 'forever' thing. Please help us to know the facts – I worry about my two very young grandchildren catching it if I get it. Thank you so much!"
It is tough to give a definitive answer to your question, Kathleen, without knowing more about why the culture was done and whether there were signs of an actual MRSA infection. To help answer your question, a little background about MRSA might help.
MRSA stands for methicillin-resistant staphylcoccus aureus.
"Staph aureus is ubiquitous, it is everywhere," said Dr. Gregory Moran, of the Division of Infectious Diseases at Olive View-UCLA Medical Center.
Staph bacteria are very common and do not pose a big threat to most healthy people. In fact, we are exposed to staph on a daily basis. About one-third of us are walking around right now with the bacteria in our nose, and it is not affecting our health, according to Moran.
Keep in mind that there are different strains of MRSA out there. Your concern may stem from the more aggressive strains of MRSA we hear about in community settings – the strains that have proven fatal for some in prisons or among athletes. Those MRSA strains are genetically more toxic than what is typically encountered in hospitals, in addition to being resistant to some of the antibiotics we have to fight them. They most often cause skin infections, but in rare cases the bacteria can penetrate to internal organs, causing an otherwise healthy person to become very ill, and in some cases die.
Hospital-acquired MRSA strains are less dangerous to healthy individuals, but testing for them is common to avoid spreading infection among hospitalized patients with weakened immune systems or during operations. The strain of MRSA that was most likely found in this hospitalized patient would not be expected to cause problems at home. A non-aggressive strain usually would not require an antibiotic, and usually is not dangerous to healthy people.
And that brings us back to the most critical part of your question, Kathleen. Will this MRSA strain detected at the hospital harm your grandchildren? The likelihood is extremely low, however, be on the alert for the telltale first sign of a MRSA infection: a painful skin lesion resembling a pimple or a spider bite. If it crops up for you or your grandchildren, go see your doctor.
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Get a behind-the-scenes look at the latest stories from CNN Chief Medical Correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, Senior Medical Correspondent Elizabeth Cohen and the CNN Medical Unit producers. They'll share news and views on health and medical trends - info that will help you take better care of yourself and the people you love.


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Mountain of Clark
Climb Till Your Forearms Explode and You Fall 80 Feet at the Country's Best (And Hardest) Sport Crag.
Three hundred and fifty feet above the piñon pines, dangling by a static line, I felt extremely alone on that bitter cold day of November 11, 1992. I was atop Mount Clark, the 7,982-foot peak high above the Southern Californian desert, and just across the border from Primm, Nevada. A Bosch drill, hooks, quickdraws and a bag of bolts hung heavily from my harness as I lowered into the abyss, unsure of what exactly was coming next.
Coming into view, a monumentally giant amphitheater revealed its magnitude for the first time to me. This smooth cave was like the Hollywood Bowl atop Mount Everest. The highest cliff band on Mount Clark was so far beyond anything I had seen before as to be a caricature one might draw of a dream crag.
As always, I chose the best line to bolt first. The most memorable part of the day was touching the incredible line of pockets and sidepulls and sloping protrusions that continued uninterrupted out this several-hundred-foot sweep of white limestone.
I was used to looking at routes that, at first, appeared too hard for my ability, yet later proved to be climbable. Each section of the line was surely doable, but it became increasingly apparent that I would never be able to free climb this route. The moves were there, but it would be too sustained. On that day I saw the future in each of those holds, and it was certainly 5.15.
It is 2007 and I am sitting in a folding chair watching Chris Sharma stab his way up the underbelly of that same immaculate shield capping Mount Clark. "FAAA!" His left middle finger finds a deep, one-digit solution pocket. "FAAA!" His right hand throws to a sideways sloper that he grips and re-grips, trying to gain purchase. Every single hand move requires three distinct foot moves to leverage his body in order to take full advantage of any friction the slippery stone may offer.
It is a very committing and physically draining style of climbing, but it is Sharma's self-described strength: "Decent but slopey holds really far apart and really continuous."
Watching Sharma climb on the so-called "decent" holds, which I know from personal experience are not, I honestly don't know how he is sticking these moves. I see he is almost perpetually in a vulnerable position, about to pitch unless he bears down and keeps moving. There is no chance to clip most bolts, and Sharma, now looking at an 80-footer at least, climbs with the abandon of another generation.
"This is the next step in the evolution of hard climbing," Sharma had said to me earlier. "Doing hard moves way off the ground and way runout."
From the safety of my chair down below, I feel like I am watching an excellent climbing movie, but my partner Scott and I don't know how this one will end. The redpoint crux comes at the end of the long runout past un-clippable bolts. "FAAA!" he screams as he stabs again to a small left-hand pocket. This is it: Sharma will either put all fears aside and lunge for the next, equally terrible hold, or grab the quickdraw that dangles temptingly close.
"FAAAQ!" He almost completes the word. Instead, he misses the hold and launches violently into space. His feet bicycle instinctively to try to avoid falling headfirst. In slow motion, he falls forever through the air against the backdrop of a white wall.
"That looked like a hundred-foot fall!" I say to Scott. "Let's hike up there and get a close look at his next burn."
"You think he'll do it?" Scott asks.
"Yeah, but I hope not anytime soon," I say. "It would be good to see Sharma have to push himself harder than he has before." It was a weird thing to say, but I secretly wished that the route would be hard—really hard.
From the vantage of airplane portholes, I first noticed what looked to be a series of massive limestone walls in the Southern Californian desert. Views through a telescope from the I-15 freeway confirmed this east-facing cliff was worth a full exploration. Huge shadows cast at 10:30 a.m. suggested an enormous and steep wall. It was late April 1992 when my climbing partner Rudy Hofmeister and I had an extra day before a weekend of sport climbing at the Virgin River Gorge, near Las Vegas, Nevada.
We approached from the opposite (western) side of Clark Mountain, and after an hour's hike through loose scree, arrived at the base of what we thought were the walls. The first amphitheater was steep and riddled with route potential. It looked about as good as I had hoped, so we made plans to come back and put up some climbs.
Back at the car, we drove east, down the dirt road of the Coliseum Mine. I happened to glance into my rear-view mirror, and my jaw dropped onto the steering wheel. The walls and caves I saw in the reflection were exponentially larger, steeper and smoother than what we had just explored. Suddenly it all made sense. The shapes of these cliffs and caves matched the shadows I had seen from I-15. We had unintentionally explored the wrong cliff band.
The scale of this rock amphitheatre struck me then and, after bolting and climbing routes (with Glenn Svenson and Ed Worsman) in the spring of 1992 on the two lower tiers, I returned in November by myself to start development of my ultimate objective, the Third Tier mega monolith, home to my own Jumbo Pumping Hate (5.14a) and, of course, the cliff's best line—the 5.15 super project that Chris Sharma is currently working.
Fifteen years later, I get the pleasure of watching the new generation of climbers come here and enjoy themselves. Clark Mountain has become a gathering spot for a core group of locals, drawing players from San Diego, Las Vegas and St. George, Utah. The most devoted "local" is Chris Lindner, who has quietly repeated most of my lines and redpointed a few I had abandoned. Though Lindner, at 23, is a 20-year veteran of climbing, he is younger yet more mature than many of his peers.
Sharma is hardly the first top climber to visit Clark. François Legrand onsighted some 5.13c's here early on, while Mia Axon and Katie Brown, two top female climbers, onsighted some difficult routes here as well. Jason Campbell, Tommy Caldwell, Todd Perkins, Dave Graham and Hidetaka Suzuki have all repeated some of Clark's hardest and best routes.
But still, most of the credit goes to Lindner, without whom activity at Clark Mountain would've died years ago. Recently, he set his sights on the last route I started seriously trying—the extension to Wall of Glass (5.14a), which would bring the route up to a 5.14c for the crag's most difficult line. I gave Lindner the green light to try the project seven years ago. He continued, year after year, to work Jumbo Glass—and while he deserved to be the first to redpoint it, the first-ascent honors went to Ethan Pringle, who sent what is now Clark's hardest complete line this spring. I know Jumbo Glass was well within Lindner's range, but the uncertainties of being the first to figure out a route can slow even the best climbers down.
After watching Sharma's 100-footer, an awesome show of commitment and endurance, Scott and I approach the First Tier crag. The various cliff levels, known as tiers, are stacked steeply on top of each other, giving the climbing an exaggerated feeling of exposure. Intricate trails connect this complicated landscape, and only the most impressive and accessible cliffs are developed to date.
"Why are you wearing leather gloves?" Scott asks me.
"The gloves have saved my hands from the cactus and sharp rock," I say. I tell Scott about one time I was rushing down alone to beat the impending nighttime.
Running past ledge systems, I could hardly see in the failing light. I jumped onto a bush that offered no support, and found myself in freefall. The heavy drill battery in my backpack sent me into a perfect front loop. Forty feet later, I was lying in a cactus, looking into the beauty of the dark sky with a fractured wrist.
After many hours, I reached my truck, sat down with an ass-full of cactus needles, and drove away, operating the manual shift with a broken wrist and a bloody shoulder, reaching the emergency room in Las Vegas at 3 a.m. Of all the epics that night, the scene most etched in my mind was the 290-pound black male nurse who removed cactus needles from my butt crack.
As Scott was laughing his ass off, we finally reached the First Tier, a 100-foot-tall limestone wall that sits in morning shade and houses over a dozen beautiful warm-up routes from 5.10 to 5.12d on golden rock.
The hiking turns a bit nastier to reach the Second Tier, involving a rope climb to surmount a 30-foot step. I point out New Respect, the best 5.12a on this tier, which takes a left-leaning corner system in overhanging orange stone. However, like most Clark routes, it is no gimme for its grade. While there are some good 5.10s and 5.11s, the proudest lines at the Second Tier are Read My Lips (5.13d), Hate Lifting (5.14a) and No New Taxes (5.13c), a potpourri of upside-down laybacks, isolated pockets, lunges and gastons on a tidal wave of white rock.
The Third Tier has the incredible amphitheatre/cave, as well as an undeveloped 500-foot wall on its right flank. With pine trees so high above the wasteland of the desert far below, the Third Tier is very compelling, with vistas for a hundred miles. The massive cave of nearly perfect bulletproof rock protects you from thunderstorms, snowstorms, or the heat of the sun. Its spiritual aura inspired my friend and trusted climbing partner Jorge Visser to name this amphitheatre the Monastery. It's a special place to me, and I chose to scatter my father's ashes here.
Sharma's project takes the best line out the amphitheater. It is, he said, "the hardest and most aesthetic line I've ever tried. The fact that it's in California is very attractive. It would be really cool to have something over in the States that would attract the Euros rather than it always being vice versa."
Looking up at the Monastery is a mesmerizing experience. Mick Ryan, a climbing author, once aptly described it as an overhanging football field. He continued the metaphor by claiming that my first complete route in the Monastery cave, a four-pitch 5.14a I named Jumbo Pumping Hate, was the only one that scored a touchdown.
The thrill of discovery has always motivated me in climbing. But it is not just the discovery that is inspiring. The vision to turn that discovery into something meaningful is a key ingredient. El Capitan in Yosemite was discovered and explored by many top climbers. The mental and physical barriers of climbing such an imposing prospect on questionable gear were first broken by men like Warren Harding, Royal Robbins and Yvon Chouinard. But when the more obvious cracks and shadowed lines started to dry up, the "new generation's" visionary route potential was realized by guys like Jim Bridwell, who could ferret out dramatic aid lines from a matrix of complicated and confusing flakes, cracks and hook placements.
Or take Boone Speed, who was one of the first to realize the stellar possibilities of the limestone "choss pile" known as the Virgin River Gorge next to I-15 in Arizona. How many climbers had ignored that desolate freeway canyon? I can still remember the look in Boone's eyes as he was describing the futuristic, pocketed face of The Fall of Man.
So, after my generation discovered and bolted up all these new areas, what sort of vision is left? Plenty, it turns out. After a lull in action, the next "new generation" of visionaries is eagerly standing on our shoulders to do things we would have never imagined. We didn't foresee the Huber brothers turning El Capitan into a crack-climbing sport crag, and no one predicted that Tommy Caldwell would free climb El Cap twice in one day. We did imagine that someone, someday, might onsight 5.14, but the regularity with which this now happens is rather sobering. And just when I thought I had seen it all, Chris Sharma climbs, sans rope, a potential 5.15 (Es Pontas) out an amazing arch high above the waters of the Mediterranean Sea in Mallorca, Spain. Along with Es Pontas and Realization, Sharma views his project here at Clark as one of his visionary routes.
I've heard some voices of my generation, mostly fulltime has-beens and never-weres, pooh-poohing the likes of Chris Sharma and Dave Graham as just overly strong guys who do hard moves near bolts. It goes something like, "Yeah, they're strong, but they can't crack climb and they don't know how to place gear!"
The reality is that high-end sport climbing has never been easy, lazy, overly safe or secure. And nowhere in the world right now is sport climbing as high end as this. This 5.15 project is so continuous that Sharma skips most bolts on the route, meaning that if he fails, he will take a mandatory 60- to 100-foot fall. Not just once or twice, but over and over again. I see in Sharma, a 26-year-old who doesn't take himself too seriously, an ability to fly through these moves without any reservation or hesitation.
If this project goes too quickly for Sharma, he has found a 50-foot bouldery start that would bump the grade up, he reckons, to a 5.15d.
The sheerness and smoothness of this big cave is unique among king caves in that it actually has adequate holds for 5.15, yet not too many … and certainly no kneebars, making it, in Sharma's words, "the perfect antidote for Rifle-type climbing." This particular rock is perfect for 5.13, 5.14 and 5.15.
Sharma's vision, unlike that of the previous generation, isn't about finding somewhere completely new. It is more about seeing something we already know through new eyes—his. When I bolted this route in 1992, I envisioned a belay at a stance 60 feet up, where the route diverges from Jumbo Pumping Hate, and another belay after the "hard" climbing was over, at the base of the 80-foot 5.12d summit headwall. But Sharma is climbing his route in one long 230-foot pitch.
At Clark Mountain, I have found what climbing means to me. It is wild and sometimes scary. The rock is dramatic and you can find yourself in positions that were once only unique to Yosemite big walls. The landscape is a melting pot of the desert and mountains. And the climbing is hard, like nowhere I have seen before or since. It will become a magnet for more climbers who want a challenge and adventure, solitude and beauty.
As the deadline for this story approaches and the desert heat of the late spring creeps up the altitude of Clark Mountain, Sharma is still putting a significant effort into climbing the project.
"It would be cool if someone could do this route," he muses. "Anyone." The reality is that there probably isn't anybody more able or qualified. Sharma eschews the customary red tag that many climbers, including this author, have employed to claim a route off limits.
"I prefer a hemp tag," Sharma says jokingly. "Climb it if you can."
Randy Leavitt was the first climber to establish first ascents of both 5.14 and A5. From first solo ascents on El Capitan to hard sport climbs, Randy still loves to climb.


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Government Shutdown Forces National Park Closures
Congressional Republicans and Democrats failed to come to an agreement on the budget for the fiscal year 2014 last night, resulting in a nation-wide government shutdown. As part of a Department of the Interior contingency plan, the National Park Service will shutting down all national parks.
All National Parks will be closed starting today following the government shutdown in Washington, DC. The closures come as a result of Congress' failure to reach a consensus on the proposed federal budget for the fiscal year 2014.
The government shutdown affects the National Park Service in a number of ways, according to a Department of the Interior contingency plan:
1) There will be no entrance into the national parks, and all overnight visitors will be forced to leave within the next 48 hours.
2) All visitors' centers within the parks will close, including all concession stands and facilities.
3) All roads within national parks will close, except those that are essential for thru traffic.
4) The National Park Service will furlough 21, 379 employees.
Though the Park Service will exempt 3,266 employees from the furlough, the shutdown still represents an astounding 88% furlough among NPS employees.
This is the first time in 17 years that a budget has failed to pass and will furlough approximately 800,000 civilian employees. The shutdown is expected to last anywhere from 10 to 20 days, according to a political analyst at LA Times.
Ironically, the shutdown comes on the 123rd anniversary of the founding of Yosemite National Park. The last government shutdown cost the national parks nearly $14 million a day, according to an Outside article.
For more information, please visit the National Park Service's website, nps.gov.


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I've heard many stories of pumas living in the Grampians, but a bunyip? In 1909, a Mr A. J. Campbell of Armadale wrote to The Argus suggesting such a creature was residing in the Black Swamp near Pomonal.
That letter led to a report in The Argus on 8 December 1909 about the strange creature of the Black Swamp. An expert had arrived and an attempt made to identify the creature. Dudley Le Souef, an interesting character from an even more interesting family, and then director of the Melbourne Zoological Gardens, got within 20 yards of it and confirmed that the bunyip was, in fact, a seal. A seal would not be that surprising in a seaside town but Pomonal is around 150 kilometres from the sea. Browsing through the newspapers at Trove, I found many references to bunyips, with musk ducks commonly mistaken as were wombats and platypus. I also found many accounts of "inland seals" around the country, also mistaken for the mythical bunyip.
An explanation of how the seal could have come to be so far inland was found in The Argus on 21 December 1909. The idea of a seal in the Grampians had created some interest and the "Naturalist" who authored the article encouraged people to visit the little-known tourist destination. He even recommended tourists picnic beside the Black Swamp. That would be okay if you were not scared of bunyips!
Looking at maps of the Grampians, I believe the seal's path along the Wannon possible, but in the depths of the Grampians, where the Wannon ends, it seems the seal would have had to have travelled overland and along smaller creeks to meet up with the Mount William Creek.
At the time of his sighting, Le Souef offered a £10 reward to anyone who could catch the seal and deliver it alive to the Stawell Railway station. Hopes were up that by the end of summer, the swamp would have dried enough to assist the seal's capture, however, a query to the "Nature Notes" in The Argus on 20 May 1910, closed the story. Until now.